Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Ionis Pharmaceuticals has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 16 research firms, with one sell rating, two holds, twelve buys, and one strong buy.
• The company's stock price target among brokerages is $67.87, reflecting various upgrades from analysts; for instance, HC Wainwright raised its target to $95.00.
• Ionis reported a substantial increase in its quarterly revenue of 100.9% year-over-year, achieving $452 million and beating analyst estimates significantly.

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $67.8750.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IONS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ IONS opened at $63.16 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of -34.33 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $23.95 and a one year high of $64.71. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.50.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $452.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.90 million. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 45.29% and a negative net margin of 28.25%.The firm's revenue was up 100.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.45) EPS. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ionis Pharmaceuticals will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP C Frank Bennett sold 33,909 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $2,055,563.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 101,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,157,173.40. This trade represents a 25.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Patrick R. O'neil sold 76,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.97, for a total value of $4,685,544.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,655 shares in the company, valued at $344,785.35. The trade was a 93.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 491,141 shares of company stock worth $28,486,139 in the last three months. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONS. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 7,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,859 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 63,877 shares of the company's stock worth $2,233,000 after buying an additional 4,900 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,450 shares of the company's stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 79.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 774,215 shares of the company's stock worth $27,067,000 after buying an additional 343,492 shares during the period. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy.

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